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Morgue Manager Guilty of Stealing Coffins

The manager of a hospital morgue pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing coffins that had been donated to Sept. 11 charities.

The manager, Felix Velazquez, 55, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court to one count of petty larceny in exchange for a sentence of 15 days of community service and a $1,000 fine.

The coffins, which usually sell for $3,000 to $5,000, had been donated by their manufacturers for the families of victims of the World Trade Center attack. Those that were not needed were sent by the charities to Bellevue Hospital Center for use there.

Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, said when Mr. Velazquez was arrested in November that he had sold six coffins to funeral directors without Bellevue's permission.

Mr. Velazquez stole the wooden and metal coffins from Bellevue and sold six of them for $150 to $300 each, prosecutors said. Seven coffins were recovered before they could be sold and two were unaccounted for, Mr. Morgenthau said.